TN Student Speaks Out About Common Core

If you haven’t already heard the name Ethan Young, get ready. The Tennessee high school student will soon be a household name thanks in no small part to a speech that’s gone viral. In just five minutes, the high school senior systematically takes apart the Common Core education initiative, which is so controversial that thousands of parents kept their kids home from school today to protest it.

Whether you agree with his argument or not, it’s nice to see a teenager taking a stand. But Young isn’t just well-spoken. He’s well-researched.

Check out some of the highlights of his impressive speech, given at a Knox County School Board meeting:

1. I stand before you because I care about education, but also because I want to support my teachers. And just as they fought for my academic achievement, so I want to fight for their ability to teach.

2. Standards-based education is ruining the way we teach and learn.

3. Much like No Child Left Behind, the program promises national testing and a one-size-fits-all education, because hey, it worked so well the first time.

4. If everything I learn in high school is a measurable objective, I have not learned anything.

5. Somewhere our Founding Fathers are turning in their graves — pleading, screaming, and trying to say to us that we teach to free minds. We teach to inspire. We teach to equip, the careers will come naturally.